CH 100

Going Out Into the World

The day of the graduation ceremony was particularly cold.

Dull, heavy snow clouds were hanging in the sky, and it looked as if it would start raining at any moment.

The third month of autumn was almost over. Soon, winter would come.

In the auditorium, students from both the knight and civil administration departments were gathered together.

The civil administration students held their school caps, while the knight students held their swords in front of their bodies.

There weren’t many long ceremonial speeches, and only the dean of the academy, who had a weak presence, made a greeting. The content was quite unsubstantial, such as a bright future ahead of you or spreading your wings and leaving the nest, and Sheila didn’t remember much of it.

After the greetings, the teachers lined up in front of each student in the civil administration department and put their school caps on the heads of the students who had bent down a little. Sheila was surprised to see so many teachers, including Clauschezade and Jornwerner.

Next, the students of the knight department put their swords back into their sheaths in a ceremonious movement. That seemed to signal the end of the ceremony.

‘Somehow, it’s simpler than I thought.’

The graduates were also somewhat nonchalant.

Was it because they all would work in the same country, so they could see each other if they wanted to? It seemed that Sheila was the only one who felt as if she was saying goodbye to them for the rest of her life.

As the graduates left the auditorium, the current students began to trickle in. Sheila stared at the backs of Cody and Zechs as they mingled with the crowd.

“Cody and Zechs. ――Thank you.”

For Sheila, who was feeling miserable and depressed, they decided to head up to Seiryuu and Axe. She was very grateful to the two of them for it.

Zechs slowly turned around.

“…. Ah? For what and when? Was it when I helped you with your ancient language homework? Or was it when you stole my sautéed pork?”

Sheila flinched at his powerful tone.

“Uh, ah, um…. All of them?”

“Don’t try to thank me all at once! Lazy!”

Zechs yelled at her, and Sheila pouted her lips. She didn’t mean to sum up her gratitude.

“I’ve thanked you properly each time….”

“Don’t think you can get away with anything if you say thank you!”

Cody, who was silently watching the exchange, chuckled as he patted Sheila on the shoulder.

“Sheila, don’t worry. That was just Zechs being shy.”

“Don’t say that! It’s even more embarrassing!”

Her friend’s cheeks were absurdly turning red. She became amused and stared at him, and his cheeks turned even redder.

A cold wind blew by their feet, which had stopped walking before they knew it.

The three of them, huddled together against the cold, quickly exchanged glances that said, ‘I want to drink the warm soup made by the lady in the cafeteria.’ Now, their hearts were united.

The three nodded to each other silently and strode quickly back to the dormitory.

◇　◆　◇

On a day when snow clouds covered the sky, similar to the day of the graduation ceremony, the time for leaving the dormitory finally arrived.

Tomorrow was the start of winter break, so the graduate and current students were all leaving the dormitory at once.

People were coming in and out of the building, and it was as lively as a festival. Sheila and her friends were one of the only ones who had nothing to do.

While she was spending some free time in the common room so as not to disturb them, Hyderion and Toldrid came in.

“Are you guys really staying?”

“Yeah. After all, I’m going to be tutored by Claushezade-sensei. Don’t be scared of us after the holidays.”

Toldrid’s cheeks twitched as Zechs flashed a smirk at him. Hyderion, too, must be feeling seriously threatened, judging from the difficult expression on his face.

‘To be honest, I’m not that positive about it…’

In the first place, she had no choice but to stay because she gave in to Jornwerner’s temptation.

But with Zechs and Cody with her, it was quite reassuring. Sheila gave a small smile at her friend’s face, full of motivation.

As Hyderion and Toldrid were leaving, Sheila and the others headed to the carriage stop to see them off.

The place was crowded with students waiting to depart.

Hyderion’s turn soon came, and then Toldrid, and Sheila hurriedly saw off the carriage they were riding in.

After taking a breath and watching the parting greetings exchanged here and there, Sheila noticed a silverish-white hair.

It was Clauschezade. It was very unusual for him to be out of the staff building outside of class.

Sheila was curious and observed that he seemed to be seeing off the graduate students one by one.

‘He goes out of his way to see the graduates off. Clauschezade-sensei is surprisingly courteous.’

Perhaps he was deeply moved to see the students he had taught graduate. He was a strict but compassionate man.

His intentions must have been well conveyed to the students. That was why a constant stream of graduate students appeared around Claushezade.

Even Sheila was feeling somewhat proud. She suddenly saw someone waving at her. It was Seiryuu and Axe, surrounded by students.

The crowd surrounding Seiryuu was decent, but those around Axe were all muscular men crying maniacally. It was so like him that Sheila laughed.

“Everyone is preparing a bouquet or some other stuff.”

Upon closer inspection, it appeared there was a tradition of presenting bouquets of flowers from the current students to the graduates.

The arms of a well-liked alumnus like Seiryuu were full of bouquets.

“Why didn’t the two of you prepare a bouquet? Seiryuu and the dorm leader are your childhood friends, aren’t they?”

At Sheila’s question, Cody and Zechs instantly exchanged glances. That was a common exchange between them when it came to certain topics.

They were silently pushing each other, but in the end, Zechs opened his mouth.

“Ah…. I’m sending a bouquet to a senior whom I had in mind.”

“Eh―? In your mind?”

The bitter expression and the way Zechs said it showed that it wasn’t just about a sign of respect or friendship.

Maybe it was hard to explain any further. Sheila nodded her head in understanding.

“Huh~ I can understand why Seiryuu is so popular, but I didn’t know that the dorm leader was that popular too.”

Sheila could understand if Seiryuu was someone relied on by both aristocrats and commoners alike, but she had the impression that Axe just always took off his clothes wherever he went.

Cody laughed embarrassedly at Sheila, who was somehow unimpressed.

“I think the underclassmen prepared the flowers purely out of courtesy. It wouldn’t look good if the dorm leader didn’t get a single bouquet, would it?”

“I’m sure there are a few serious ones in the mix.”

“I see….. Well, the dorm leader is kind of cool, I guess?”

Zechs shrugged his shoulders and added, and Sheila nodded in return.

He had a good-looking face, and his steel-like body was also attractive to those who prefer it.

But Zechs looked down at Sheila in disbelief.

“No, no, no, no, absolutely not. I don’t even want to imagine muscles tangling with each other.”

“Zechs, you know you shouldn’t be so prejudiced, right?”

“Your tolerance level is way too high!”

Perhaps it was the difference in sensibilities between men and women, but Zechs was quite stubborn.

Sheila and the others stood in line to see Seiryuu off while they were talking. The waves of students eventually reduced, and finally, they were within earshot.

“Congratulations on your graduation.”

Seiryuu smiled happily as they all bowed in unison.

“I’m sorry. I’ve noticed you’ve been lining up for quite some time.”

“It’s all right. It’s just a sign of your popularity.”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect your followers to give up their turn, anyway.”

Cody and Zechs each responded in their own way. The glances they exchanged were full of goodwill.

As Sheila watched smilingly, Seiryuu’s smile suddenly turned to her.

“Sheila, I have a favor to ask you.”

“Eh? Me?”

Was there anything Sheila, who had nothing to offer, could do? As she blinked her eyes, Seiryuu slowly stood in front of her.

“Actually… I’d like to have that hair tie you’re using.”

Sheila touched her hair tie at the unexpected offer. It was a plain leather cord that finally held together her hair, which was still too short to tie.

“Is this it? I think it’s probably the same as the one Seiryuu uses.”

“It’s fine. I really want that one. ――You don’t want to?”

Faced with his earnest eyes, there was no reason to refuse.

Sheila nodded easily and untied her hair.

“Then why don’t we exchange my hair tie for Seiryuu’s? If I use it as a good luck charm, I can take advantage of Seiryuu’s strength.”

Hearing Sheila’s words, Seiryuu seemed satisfied.

When he took off his hair tie, his straight black hair was down to his shoulders. Sheila admired his hair for a while, thinking how beautiful it was.

“Thank you. I will take good care of it.”

Seiryuu muttered in a very sincere voice and held her hair tie to his chest. Sheila smiled at his compassionate appearance.

“Please use it properly rather than taking care of it.”

“That’s right…. I’ll use it carefully.”

While Sheila smiled together with Seiryuu, she noticed that Cody and Zechs were silent. She turned around and before she knew it, they were keeping a distance from her.

“Huh? What’s wrong, you two?”

“Well, I thought I’d give you two some space. I’m just trying to be nice.”

“What?”

Sheila tilted her head at the grinning Zechs.

In the meantime, Axe came and started to take off his clothes. In addition, his juniors who admired him also started taking off their clothes together, creating a great commotion at the carriage stop.

In the end, the crowd became lively as usual, and Sheila joined in on the happy atmosphere.

One by one, they departed, until finally, only those who stayed behind remained at the carriage stop.

The hustle and bustle just now seemed a little unbelievable when they saw the current atmosphere. It somehow made her a little sad.

“――Ah, snow!”

Sheila looked up at the sky as Cody raised his voice.

From the dark clouds that looked like they were about to rain, pure white snowflakes fluttered down here and there.

“It’s the first snowfall.”

Zechs’ somber murmur triggered the three of them to fall silent. Even though they each have different thoughts, the loneliness in their hearts was surely the same.

As they stared at the sky for a while, a cold voice called out from behind them.

“――You all seem to be taking it easy, but it is the role of those who stay behind to shovel the snow from the training hall.”

“Geh!”

It was Zechs who instinctively yelped before he came to his senses. Fearfully, he turned to see Clauschezade standing with his arms crossed.

“…. Um, what’s the point of us doing that?”

Apparently, Zechs hadn’t spoken much individually with this iron-faced teacher. Sheila almost burst out laughing at his awkward smile as he countered with a cautious tone. Clauschezade was treated like a dangerous man.

However, he didn’t seem particularly offended and just shrugged his shoulders.

“Are you going to take the easy way out? It would be a good way for you guys to build up your stamina.”

“Do you have any idea how big this place is…?”

Looking down at the gawking Zechs, Clauschezade lifted the corners of his mouth. Perhaps he found it interesting because it was rare to find a student who talked back to him face-to-face.

“Zechs, what is there to be depressed about!? It’s Clauschezade-sama’s guidance after all! Let’s all do our best!”

Cody spoke out passionately. Come to think of it, he was a die-hard Clauschezade fan.

“What a mess….”

In contrast to Zechs despairing atmosphere, Cody’s eyes were just sparkling.

Clauschezade raised his eyebrow slightly. It was evidence of his amusement with them.

Sheila felt relieved that she would be spending her long winter break with this group of students.

“Cody Aswan. Call me ‘-sensei,’ not ‘-sama.’”

“Yes!”

After correcting him, Clauschezade quickly disappeared into the faculty building. If he had at least said something nice, he wouldn’t be misunderstood as being cold.

‘Well, let’s understand each other slowly.’

Sheila and the others also started walking toward the dormitory.

Suddenly, Clauschezade’s words to Cody came back to her.

‘But didn’t Clauschezade-sensei say to me that honorifics are unnecessary…?’

Sheila had been given permission to call him “Clausche” when the two of them were alone. It seemed that it was special only to her, and it tickled her heart. Even though it was cold, her chest felt warm.

Winter would soon begin.

Sheila’s steps lightened like the falling snow, and she passed by Cody and Zechs, who were walking in front of her.